SINGAPORE: Chinese strikes on airfields may hinder US military aviation in the Indo-Pacific area if there is a fight, a new study says, recommending that the United States invest in low, uncrewed aircraft and runway repair capabilities.
The main issue, according to the experts, is that bases within the first area network, which is a group of islands stretching roughly from Indonesia in an arc north to Japan and encompassing the South China Sea and East China Sea, are within the reach of tens of thousands of Chinese missiles.
If those arms are used to destroy or disable airports, they may cause the closure of Japanese aircrafts for at least 11 days. Those further away, in Guam and the Pacific Islands, may be closed for a minimum of 1.7 time.
” In training, however, China could undermine US combat businesses for much longer by denying the United States the use of planes to do aerial refuelling functions”, the report says.
The report, Cratering Effects: Chinese Missile Threats to US Air Bases in the Indo-Pacific, was published on Thursday ( Dec 12 ) by the Stimson Center, a defence and security think tank.
It advises developing more crewed aviation that can work with small runways, developing more runway-repair and base endurance capabilities, and strengthening alliances so that friendly nations are more willing to open airfields for US use, in addition to complicating Chinese hit planning.
US Indo-Pacific Command, which oversees British troops in the region, did not respond to a request for comment.
China’s ministry of defence did not respond to a request for comment.